The present invention relates to a load toting vehicle and especially to a load toting vehicle adapted to be attached to a pickup truck, or the like, for moving bales of hay, or the like.
In the past, it has been common to store hay in hay stacks, as well as in bales and more recently in cylindrical bales. Cylindrical bales allow the hay to be picked up and moved for storage but also to be picked up and placed in a field for feeding livestock. The cylindrical bales of hay are rolled bales which can be unrolled for the livestock. Baling is accomplished through baling machines and the hay is commonly moved in pickup trucks or other farm vehicles. Prior U.S. Patents to Gildon, U.S. Pat. No.: 4,411,571 and to Lynch U.S. Pat. No.: 4,288,191 show means of handling cylindrical bales of hay. U.S. Pat. No.: 4,412,768 to Bauer is for a hay tote mechanism which operates in the manner similar to the present invention, in that it has a hydraulically actuated truck bumper mounted onto a pickup truck with two rigid bumper sections, and a rotatable center section having a pair of sockets for receiving bale piercing spears. Once the bale is loaded onto the spears, the hydraulic cylinder actuates the rotating part of the bumper to lift the bale.
The present invention, on the otherhand, replaces an entire bumper with a single rotating cylindrical bumper which can rotate in sleeves, bushings or bearings, responsive to a hydraulically actuated bracket attached thereto, and includes removable spears which can be stored within the cylindrical bumper itself and locked therein with a threaded clamp. The entire hay moving attachment is thus simplified over the Bauer and other Patents. It provides for convenient storage for the spears while the vehicle is being used for other purposes. In addition, a special attachment allows the hay to be speared from the side and rolled out onto a field for the feeding of livestock.